


Cracks

by D_f_m22



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 14:24:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18830482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/D_f_m22/pseuds/D_f_m22
Summary: Skaro opens up some old wounds for Missy.





	Cracks

**Author's Note:**

> Written in one sitting tonight, so don't expect much!

“I knew he’d never do it. So predictable…so hilarious.”

The Doctor’s grip on the detached Dalek gun faltered, dropping by mere millimetres as he turned to face Missy. It was the first time he’d been able to tear his eyes away from Clara. His sweet, innocent Clara who was now sat entrapped in the Dalek casing; brown eyes still wet with terror. It wasn’t his oldest friend’s nonsensical ramblings that drew his attention away from the human- that was nothing new for the Time Lady. Instead, it was the way her voice cracked as she tried to string the words together. Her usual playful lilt was replaced by a heaviness he hadn’t heard in centuries. Turning slightly more, the Doctor’s eyes scanned over Missy. It was the first time he’d considered her appearance since they’d arrived on Skaro. The Time Lady was paler in a way that made her look even more alien and a catalogue of new bruises marked her features. Her mouth hung open slightly, eyebrows pinched together in concentration. The Doctor watched in concern as Missy flinched every so often- seeming to startle away from an imagined threat. Finally, the Doctor’s gaze made his way to Missy’s eyes. The madness that always lingered close to the surface of Time Lady’s blue orbs was no longer concealed. Instead, it was plain to see; dancing and fighting in a way that nearly set the azure colours alight. For a moment, the Doctor stepped forward- drawn to his friend like a siren call. 

Then he stopped. 

If there was one thing he knew for certain about the Time Lady, it was that her talent for deception knew no bounds. Turning away from Missy once more, the Doctor took two determined steps back towards Clara. It was her- not Missy- that deserved his attention. Hand outstretched, the Doctor made easy work of removing the first of the neuro pads from Clara’s forehead. He was nearly finished when Missy began talking again, making him freeze. 

“I told you he wouldn’t do it,” Missy said wistfully. Her vacant eyes stared straight ahead as she moved from foot to foot in obvious agitation. “I told you.” 

The Doctor looked at Clara, shooting her an apologetic glance as he returned to his full height. Turning on his heels, the Time Lord felt the full toils of the day as his knees creaked in protest. Slowly, he approached Missy with concerned features. His hands were raised in surrender, a gentle reassurance to the Time Lady that he came in peace. Peace- as both Gallifreyans knew far too well- was hard to find on Skaro. 

“Doctor,” Clara said, calling after him as he left her in her metal prison. There was a cautious undertone to the human’s voice, but it lacked the usual annoyance it had for Missy. Instead it was softer- an indication that perhaps she could tell something wasn’t quite right with the normally happy-to-be bonkers Time Lady. “Doctor, who’s she talking to?”

“Shh,” the Doctor hissed, edging closer to Missy.  
It came out colder than he had meant it to, but Clara didn’t seem bothered. Missy, on the other hand, did. The Doctor watched on apologetically as his friend flinched away from him, stepping back and curling into the corner as he back touched the wall. Her hands, clenched into tight fists as she roughly hit against the sides of her head. Spying specks of blood on the sides of her hands, the Doctor reached for her wrists and pulled her towards him with her gentle firmness that brought her someway back to reality. 

“I’m not going to tell him,” Missy whispered. Her breaths were shallow and her eyes failed to focus on anything as they darted around the room looking for any threat. “He won’t do that. I don’t think he will.” 

The Doctor’s face softened and he suddenly felt guilty that he hadn’t considered the impact returning to Skaro unexpectedly was going to have on Missy. It had shaken him and he knew he had spent less of the Time War on the planet than his oldest friend. Letting out a tired sigh, the Doctor’s mind raced as he tried to resolve the issue at hand. He needed to stabilise Missy enough to get her back to the Tardis while also freeing Clara from the Dalek casing. Experience had told him that telling Missy there was no one there would do nothing but agitate the Time Lady further. Instead, the Doctor tried a different tactic. 

“Who are you talking to Missy?” He asked in the kindest tone his current accent could muster. 

Missy’s eyes darted towards the Doctor, wide in panic at being directly spoken to. 

“The voice,” Missy answered, starting to fidget in agitation once more. “It was here last time I was here too. It says you’re going to leave me here.”

“I see,” the Doctor said, nodding as he formulated his next words. He had been about to leave her- anger at what she’d done to Clara blinding him from the bigger picture. “Well, I’m not going to.”

“That’s what I told him. He was wrong again. He thought you were going to shoot Clara but I said you wouldn’t. He says your going to punish me for hurting Clara.”

The Doctor paused here, as though the mention of Clara had reminded him of his friend’s predicament. He turned around, half expecting to find the human annoyed that he was being so kind to the Time Lady that had trapped her inside a Dalek. Instead he found a compassion for the Time Lady’s obvious distress. Clara had seen Missy take a leave from her sanity several times, but she could tell this was something deeper. 

“We’re not going to leave you,” Clara said softly. She had what the Doctor recognised as her teacher’s voice on. It was reassuring but firm- not one to be argued with. “He’s the Doctor, he doesn’t leave people behind.”

“That’s right,” the Doctor encouraged. “So you tell that voice that I’m not going anywhere without you. I need you to help me though. I need you to help me get Clara out of the Dalek so we can get back to the Tardis.”

It wasn’t a sentence the Doctor had ever imagined he’d have to say, but that had happened a lot today. He didn’t particularly need the help of the Time Lady to set Clara free and in ordinary circumstances he wouldn’t trust her but for now he hoped it would ground her a bit more and take her mind of the Voice and where they really were. 

“I’ll help,” Missy stated in a shaky voice. “But he doesn’t want me to.”

“Don’t pay him any attention,” the Doctor said. “He’s always wrong.”

XXXXXXXX 

“We were on Skaro,” Missy repeated for a time that the Doctor had lost count of. “Skaro.”

Glancing up at the Time Lady, the Doctor nodded sombrely. They had finally made it back to the Tardis in one piece, the Doctor guiding Missy along gently as Clara followed behind in a mixture of shock at her own experiences and intrigue as she tried to understand exactly what was going on between the two Gallifreyans. The human had given in to sleep about an hour earlier- excusing herself from the lounger area where the Doctor had been trying to coax Missy back to some sense of reality. While the woman was not Missy’s biggest fan, she didn’t wish to see her suffering in the way she obviously was. She also couldn’t face seeing the Doctor as concerned as he was- fluctuating between the guilt he was feeling at Clara’s trauma and the worry he was feeling for Missy. They were going around in circles and Clara decided that in lieu of adding to the worry, she would take herself off to bed. As her gran would often say, everything felt better after a good kip. Now, it was just the two Time Lords left, sat together on a battered sofa. The Doctor reached for Missy’s hand, squeezing it gently and running his thumb over the back of her hand. 

That was all it took- the last of the Time Lady’s façade came crashing down as she let out on anguished sob. 

“We were on—”

“Skaro,” the Doctor finished for her. “I know.” 

Missy didn’t reply, letting out another sob as her delusions gave way to despair. 

“I’ve got you,” the Doctor said softly. “I’ve always got you.”


End file.
